


resistance is futile

by glass_icarus



Category: Kyou Kara Maou!
Genre: Chromatic Character, Chromatic Source, Chromatic Source Creator, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-06
Updated: 2009-05-06
Packaged: 2017-10-09 08:49:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/85301
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glass_icarus/pseuds/glass_icarus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Yuuri grows up, and Conrad grows uneasy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	resistance is futile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mosh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mosh/gifts).



Conrad watches Yuuri grow into himself, wiser and more confident with each passing year. He's still impulsive, but only about trivial matters: Gwendal and Gunter no longer spend their days chasing him down to do his paperwork or attend council meetings, and Yozak complains that it's less entertaining now that he doesn't have to go haring off to Francia after a Yuuri in disguise. Wolfram sits at Yuuri's side, beaming with approval; their friendship now is stronger and less fraught with tension despite the marriage proposal that still dangles between them.

"It doesn't matter now," Wolfram says when Gunter brings it up in council, Yuuri choosing as always to remain reticent on the matter. "We have good foreign relations all around, and there are plenty of years yet before Yuuri has to think about it. Besides, like Greta says, we're family, no matter what happens. There are better things to focus on."

"But-" Gunter starts, beginning to tear at his hair.

Wolfram catches Gwendal's eye, hoping to avert the histrionics, and Gwendal diverts the conversation to Anissina's new contraption, which has exploded all the windows in the west wing of the castle.

Yuuri continues to join Conrad on his morning runs and takes Saturday afternoons off to play baseball with their team, and Conrad continues to join him on his (less-frequent) family visits, but Conrad still feels a little extraneous.

He brings it up obliquely with Murata during a visit to Shinou's temple, while Yuuri is occupied with the traditional greetings.

"Is it about time, do you think, for another foreign tour?" Conrad asks quietly.

Murata laughs. "There hasn't been trouble for years! If there were, Yozak and I would be the first to know. Besides, why would you go without Yuuri?"

"Ah, no reason," Conrad replies, his eyes fixed on his Maou. "He's just busier these days. I thought perhaps it would be easier on him if he didn't have to go."

Murata peers at him from behind his glasses, his eyes as smilingly opaque as always. "If it would make you feel better," he says at last. "You should talk to Yuuri."

But Conrad doesn't know how to ask, and so he never brings it up.

One day, while he's watching the sunset from the top of the tower, Yuuri joins him on the roof.

Conrad turns, smiling. "Heika," he says.

Yuuri laughs. "Some things really never change, do they, nazukeoya?"

"No, I suppose not." Conrad blinks as Yuuri leans against his side.

"I talked to Murata," he says. "Were you ever going to tell me?"

"Yuuri-"

"Of course you can go if you really want to; you never have to ask." Yuuri looks up at him with wide eyes, just a little bit lost. "Do you want to?"

"No," Conrad says, feeling a twinge of nostalgia for the sixteen-year-old boy he'd once met. "Not without you."

Yuuri burrows closer, seeking warmth. "Good," he says, fingers curled into the lapel of Conrad's jacket, and Conrad wraps an arm around his shoulders.

Perhaps it's weak of him, Conrad reflects, but resistance has always been futile when it comes to Yuuri.


End file.
